Three women held captive in the U.K. for 30 years are freed

Three women, one from Malaysia, one from Ireland and one from Britain, were rescued from the town of Lambeth where they had been held captive for 30 years. London Metropolitan Police said on Friday that brainwashing and emotional abuse were used to keep the women in the custody of the couple that was arrested on Thursday.
However, the details of the crime are not entirely clear, and authorities are trying to determine what factors were present in the hostage situation. “It is not as brutally obvious as women being physically restrained inside an address and not allowed to leave. What [Detective Inspector Kevin Hyland] and his team are trying to understand is what were the invisible handcuffs that were used to exert such a degree of control over these women,” Commander Steve Rodhouse said. “Trying to label this investigation as domestic servitude or forced labor is far too simple. What we have uncovered so far is a complicated and disturbing picture of emotional control over many years. Brainwashing would be the most simplest term, yet that belittles the years of emotional abuse these victims have had to endure.”
Hyland has commented that “allegations of slavery” are prevalent, but the situation is unlike any other previously encountered by authorities. He added that physical abuse was obvious as well as emotional abuse. “We are trying to figure out the nature of those invisible handcuffs,” Hyland added.